Parent To Launch On Hold

This is to inform you know that Parent to Launch will be on hold for a while, meaning no new posts will be coming anytime soon. How long this hold will last is unknown at this point.

While I firmly believe in the idea of Parent to Launch, I do not have the time necessary to adequately keep this site going.

The site will remain so the articles will be available for referral in the future. In the future the hold may lift – but for now, all my time is dedicated to Simple Marriage. Thank you for your readership during this initial start-up.

Many blessings to you and your family.

Popularity: 36% [?]

Reasons Are Not Excuses: Thoughts on Raising Victors, Not Victims

photo credit: papalars

Editor’s Note: An article taken from Foster Cline, M.D., of Love and Logic.

I read parenting book after parenting book these days that emphasize

• understanding your child
• searching for her reasons for misbehavior
• if your children are misbehaving, understand and nurture them

The importance of giving children loving nurturing and understanding cannot be over-emphasized. It’s absolutely important. And love is the most important complement of all lasting relationships.

But giving love and understanding is not the whole story. In fact, when high functioning and loving parents have trouble with their children, it is not often because they haven’t been loving or nurturing enough.

Sometimes it is because the parents in their love have made understanding the reasons for misbehavior synonymous with excusing misbehavior.

Let’s get something straight. There are always reasons for misbehavior and reasons for misbehavior can always be understood. In this world, there is much misbehavior by individuals, groups and nations which should be understood… but not excused!

Read more..

Popularity: 44% [?]

Parenting One Liners

photo credit: bredgur

Editor’s Note: An article taken from Jim Fay, founder of Love and Logic.

Kids seem to have a repertoire of “hooks” they use to get their parents to argue with them. Here are some Love and Logic One-Liners that will get parents off the hook and cause children to do more of the thinking.

Remember: The “one-liners” are only effective when said with genuine compassion and understanding. These are never intended to be flippant remarks that discount the feelings of the child. If an adult uses these responses to try to get the better of a child, the problem will only become worse. The adult’s own attitude at these times is crucial to success.

• “Probably so.”
• “I know.”
• “Nice try.”
• “I bet it feels that way.”
• “What do you think you’re going to do.”
• “I don’t know. What do you think?”
• “Bummer. How sad.”
• “Thanks for sharing that.”
• “Don’t worry about it now.”
• “That’s an option.”
• “I bet that’s true.”
• “Maybe you’ll like what we have for the next meal better.”
• “What do you think I think about that?”
• “I’m not sure how to react to that. I’ll have to get back to you on it.”
• “I’ll let you know what will work for me.”
• “I’ll love you wherever you live.”

Popularity: 52% [?]

How To Address Spring Fever And Other Pre-Launch Jitters

photo credit: jurvetson

Early on in my counseling career I worked with a family in full Senioritis mode. Their son was a good student, busy in extra-curricular activities and sports, had a part time job, and a good group of friends. As soon as Spring hit, tensions in the house rose between he and his parents, especially his father.

They were fighting frequently and the fights were escalating with each exchange. They sought help in order to come up with some ways to co-exist until their son left for college. They recognized that to a degree, what was going on between them was natural.

Call it pre-launch jitters if you will. The son was ready to be off on his own, the parents were ready for him to move on to the next phase of life, but the countdown was too slow.

There are natural progressions to a family’s development and launch of their children. It’s completely normal! And whether this launch involves a high schooler leaving the nest for college, a student entering middleschool, or a child entering Kindergarten, tension spikes in the household are bound to happen.

Read more..

Popularity: 56% [?]

What Kids Need Most – Cool Parents

Today I have an article posted at Simple Mom I think you will be interested in:

What Kids Need Most – Cool Parents

Be sure to check it out and if you enjoy it please share it with other via Digg, StumbleUpon or Twitter. I’d appreciate it. Thanks.

Popularity: 59% [?]

Parent To Launch Server Upgrade

The migration of PtL is now complete. You hopefully will notice nothing different, other than an increase in the load speeds. Please look around and let me know if there are any bugs that need to be addressed.

PtL has been migrated ahead of my other blog -Simple Marriage, as a test to ensure everything transfers fine. If you see any problems, please let me know via the contact form. Thanks.

Popularity: 59% [?]

They’ll Love You For Holding Them Accountable

Editor’s Note: Another article taken from Jim Fay, founder of Love and Logic.

Your life and that of your kids can be better if you hold your children accountable for their misdeeds. Many parents want to do this, but hold back out of fear their kids will see them as being mean. Love and Logic® offers the secret to holding kids accountable and actually leaving children liking their parents better. You can ease into this with the “E’s” of Love and Logic.

The art of becoming a Love and Logic parent is to tap into the two ways children learn best. The first is by copying and modeling after their parents. Here we see the first “E” of Love and Logic – example. Kids learn more from what they are shown than what they are told.

The next way we learn is through experience, the second “E” of Love and Logic. Our mistakes become our best teachers. Unfortunately many parents, in the heat of the moment, close their children’s minds to learning through experience by resorting to anger, threats, and lectures. This switches the child’s mind into the “fight or flight” mode of operation.

You can open your child’s mind to learning from experience by using the third “E” of Love and Logic – empathy. This is the secret to causing your youngster to like you better after you have had to discipline. A heavy dose of empathy before holding children accountable will go a long way to helping them learn from their misdeeds. And it will do wonders for your relationships with them.

Read more..

Popularity: 65% [?]

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